What to know about the Dispatch investigation of doctor sex abuse
What is the State Medical Board of Ohio?
The board is a 12-person group appointed by the governor for five-year terms. Per state law, nine members are physicians, and three are nonphysician members, representing the interests of consumers.
What does the medical board do?
The board issues state medical licenses and oversees the practice of medical professionals in various health disciplines, including physicians, podiatrists, physician assistants, dietitians, massage therapists and other groups. The board investigates complaints against applicants and licensees and takes disciplinary action against those who violate state public health and safety standards.
What did The Dispatch find?
For decades, the state medical board has failed to protect the public from predatory doctors.
A review of 42 years of medical board disciplinary action revealed hundreds of doctors were cited for sexual misconduct involving hundreds of patients. The misconduct ranged from serious crimes such as rape and gross sexual imposition to inappropriate touching and romantic sexual relationships between doctors and patients, which violate the board’s sexual misconduct rules.
Those figures don’t include an untold number of cases that were never reported to the board or where it is unclear how thoroughly the allegations were investigated.
What does the medical board investigate?
The board’s investigative process is complaint-driven. It investigates complaints involving a range of issues that among others includes sexual misconduct, improper prescribing, failing to keep records or following appropriate medical protocols.
What’s being done to fix the issues?
Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine and medical board officials told the newspaper that they have increased personnel and expertise to board staff and created new policies to better protect the public from sexual misconduct.
Lawmakers also introduced Senate Bill 322, which would provide more transparency to the public and empower the board to take quicker action against doctors who are accused of sexual misconduct. The legislation had not moved out of committee by the conclusion of the 134th General Assembly, effectively killing the bill, though state leaders said they plan to try again.
What happens when a sexual misconduct complaint is filed?
The medical board staff reviews all complaints. The review could result in one of four outcomes:
● If the complaint does not fall under the board’s jurisdiction, the matter is closed.
● Board staff investigates, and if they determine the complaint does not warrant further action, the complaint is closed.
● If the investigation determines that disciplinary action is appropriate, including revoking or suspending a doctor’s license, the board could issue a citation and order. Licensees are entitled to request a hearing if they choose.
● The board could reach a settlement agreement with the doctor.
How do you file a sexual misconduct complaint?
Complaints can be filed online through the medical board’s website, or by calling the board’s confidential complaint hotline at 1-833333-7626.
How can I find out about complaints or discipline involving my doctor?
Complaints against a doctor are confidential under Ohio law, but if the medical board ultimately issues a citation or reaches a settlement with a doctor, that information is posted on its website, med.ohio.gov.
What should patients know about sexual boundaries in health care and how to protect themselves?
According to the medical board’s guidelines on sexual boundaries, medical providers should:
● Explain every step of an exam.
● Provide patients with a gown or drape if the exam requires the patient to undress.
● Allow patients to undress privately and knock before re-entering the room. Patients have the right to:
● Ask for a chaperone at any time.
● Ask questions if unclear about anything the doctor is doing.
● End the exam at any time. Patients should also look up their doctor’s disciplinary history on the medical board’s website, and are encouraged to pay attention to red flags and instincts. For example, it is unlikely that a patient would need to undress or have a genital exam when seeking care for a sore throat.
If misconduct occurs, the medical board encourages patients to contact law enforcement immediately. Patients can also file a complaint about their doctor to the medical board. jsmola@dispatch.com @jennsmola mwagner@dispatch.com @Mikewagner48 mfilby@dispatch.com @Maxfilby
Of the 256 doctors disciplined for sexual misconduct, just eight doctors, or 3%, are registered sex offenders. Of the total cited, 76, or nearly 30%, appear to have been charged or convicted of a crime, a Dispatch analysis found.
Ohio law requires the medical board to report cases of felony sexual misconduct to law enforcement. But former state Attorney General Betty Montgomery, who served as medical board president in 2022, said investigators didn’t always adhere to the law.
As recently as 2019, there was not even a mention in the board’s official investigative manual that employees needed to notify law enforcement of sexual misconduct when it rose to the level of a crime. The board changed that in March 2020 by creating a new policy specifically spelling out when and how board workers must report sexual misconduct to law enforcement.
It’s a change Montgomery admitted shouldn’t have been necessary to ensure the board abided by state law.
“Boy, that’s an interesting concept. Follow the law, is that what you’re saying?” Montgomery quipped when asked about the change.
Survivors of doctor sexual abuse or harassment who spoke to The Dispatch questioned why so many members of the state medical board are doctors and therefore allowed to adjudicate cases against their fellow physicians. Twelve people sit on the state medical board and nine of them are doctors.
With doctors judging other medical professionals, some worry they may be letting colleagues off easy. Others told The Dispatch even if that’s not happening, it creates the perception that it’s possible.
Dewine and board leaders disagreed. The officials said physician input is important. However, Dewine said it’s fair to question the balance of the 12-member board.
“I think a doctor can be independent, but the real question is what is the proper balance on the board with members of the public and members of the medical community,” Dewine said. “I think it’s something that should be looked at by the legislature.”
The medical board’s own practices made it difficult to compile an accurate tally of sexual misconduct cases.
The board doesn’t investigate complaints of sexual abuse or harassment against doctors who work for the Veterans Administration or the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
Instead, the board refers every accusation back to the VA or the state prison system, meaning they were not included in disciplinary records reviewed by The Dispatch.
The medical board’s investigative records are sealed indefinitely and are not subject to discovery in civil court. Even if a doctor admits to sexually abusing a patient, investigative files remain confidential.
Sometimes, the board doesn’t even call sexual misconduct by its name. Records show the board sometimes hides sexual offenses under terms like “boundary crossings” and “unprofessional conduct.”
That’s how the accusations against neurologist Dr. Mohan Chandran were labeled. Chandran was a Sandusky-based doctor who was accused of abusing five female patients between February and July 2007.
A monthly board report stated Chandran was cited for assault and his “conduct toward five specified patients.”
One of those patients was Hortense Millerwoods, now 66, who saw Chandran for arthritis treatment in 2007.
During an appointment, she said, Chandran stuck a needle in her neck and then slid his tongue into her mouth. She couldn’t move or yell for help for risk of the needle moving and injuring her.
She said the assault lasted about a minute before Chandran removed the needle. She jumped down from the examination table and ran out of the room.
“No woman should have to go through that. It was a simple case of a man thinking he could do whatever he wanted with female patients,” Miller-woods said. “I was terrified to go back to see other doctors and even now I do heavy research on all of them before I walk into their office.”
Miller-woods reported Chandran to police, who informed her she was the fifth person to come forward.
Chandran blamed the sexual abuse on a stroke he suffered in 2005 and said it caused his erratic behavior.
He was sentenced to 15 months in prison after being found guilty on five charges of misdemeanor assault in May 2008. The medical board didn’t strip Chandran of his medical license until September 2009.
He did not respond to requests to comment. “What Mr. Chandran did to me was humiliating, degrading and disrespectful,” another survivor said in court. “I use the title Mr. Chandran because he doesn’t deserve the title of doctor.”
The medical board has sometimes taken months or years to revoke a doctor’s license — even in seemingly clear-cut cases.
That’s exactly what happened with Dr. Mark Blankenburg and Dr. Robert “Scott” Blankenburg, who were both highly respected pediatricians and supporters of youth sports in southwest Ohio.
But in December 2008, Mark Blankenburg was charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, and in March 2009 Robert Blankenburg was charged with corruption of a minor. Still, the board didn’t act.
Mark Blankenburg was convicted in October 2009 and sentenced to up to 27 years in prison. His brother struck a plea deal in January 2010 with Butler County prosecutors to serve 13 years in prison. Mark Blankenburg declined to comment and Robert Blankenburg could not be reached for comment.
Even after the convictions, a month passed before the medical board suspended Mark Blankenburg’s license and several more went by before the board revoked it in June 2010. The board revoked Robert Blankenburg’s license in March 2010, three months after he pleaded guilty.
Board records also exclude the fact that the twin doctors abused their own patients, whom prosecutors said were groomed and bribed with drugs and money.
A former patient from Hamilton in Butler County, who said the doctors abused him, testified to the grand jury that ultimately indicted Robert Blankenburg. He spoke to The Dispatch on the condition of anonymity.
The man said he went to see Dr. Mark Blankenburg for a physical he needed to play seventh-grade football. He was 12 at the time.
During the examination, the man said, Mark Blankenburg spent a long time examining his genitals. He thought it was odd but didn’t realize it until a few years later when he saw a different doctor for a physical in high school and the exam took no time at all.
“It had to be 10 to 15 minutes. It felt like forever,” he said. “I didn’t really think anything about it, because I thought this is what a physical is. But when I look back at it, that was definitely inappropriate.”
The Blankenburg brothers were unofficial team photographers for local youth sports and often invited teens to their “party house,” where they gave kids alcohol and drugs like Xanax and opioids, the Hamilton man said.
He said the two doctors got him addicted to painkillers and later heroin.
One day, the man said, he was at the house drinking a beer when Robert Blankenburg gave him Xanax.
The combination made the man pass out. He woke up to find his pants removed, pornography playing on the TV and Robert Blankenburg sitting on the floor nearby.
Robert Blankenburg apologized to the man,